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  • Geebo 8:00 am on October 18, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , police scam,   

    Strange new police impersonation scam emerges 

    Strange new police impersonation scam emerges

    By Greg Collier

    As we often state, the police impersonation scam that is the most common has to be the jury duty scam. Again, this is when scammers pose as the victim’s local police, even going as far as to spoof the police department’s phone number. The victim is told they missed jury duty and a warrant has been issued for the victim’s arrest. Then the scammers tell the victim they can avoid arrest if they make an immediate payment. This payment is usually made through unconventional means such as gift cards, cryptocurrency, or money transfers. A variation of this scam is when the victim is just told flat out there’s a warrant for their arrest.

    Now, a report out of Wisconsin says there is yet another version of the police impersonation scam. A sheriff’s department has issued a statement saying they’ve received an alarming number of phone calls about this scam. In the latest scam, the scammers are still posing as local police, including spoofed phone numbers, but the scammers’ demand is more than unusual. Residents have said that not only are the scammers demanding a $1000 payment in gift cards, but they’re also telling residents they need to undergo a court-ordered DNA test, or they’ll be arrested.

    We get why the scammers would ask for money in gift cards. That’s just what they do. However, a request for a victim’s DNA is a new one for us. We can’t imagine what the DNA would be used for, but the supposed DNA test may just be a ruse to get the victim to meet the scammer in person.

    Even with this new twist on the police impersonation scam, the ways to protect yourself remain the same. No legitimate law enforcement agency, office, or department will ever call you demanding payment. They won’t threaten you over the phone with arrest if you don’t pay them immediately. If there was a warrant out for your arrest, or a court-ordered DNA test was required, the investigating officers or agents would come to you without a phone call.

    If you receive one of these phone calls asking for money, or in this case your DNA, hang up and call your local police department at their non-emergency number. Not only can they advise you the call is a scam, but they can now inform the community of the scam as well.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on August 8, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , police scam,   

    How common is the jury duty scam? 

    How common is the jury duty scam?

    By Greg Collier

    We often say the most common scam we see in the news is the jury duty scam. Hardly a day goes by where we don’t see a police department or sheriff’s office warning their local residents about police imposters who are trying to trick victims out of their money.

    The jury duty scam is a type of fraud where scammers attempt to deceive individuals by posing as law enforcement officials or court representatives. They typically target people through phone calls claiming that the recipient has missed jury duty and is now facing legal consequences. The scammers then ask their victims to pay a fictitious fine that supposedly clears the arrest warrant.

    But the scammers don’t want you to go to the courthouse to pay the fine. They want their payment then and there, usually through payment apps like Zelle and Venmo, gift cards, prepaid debit cards, or cryptocurrency.

    Just in the past 24 hours, we’ve seen jury duty scam warnings from the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, In Florida, the Annapolis Police Department, in Maryland, the Louisiana State Police, the Morris County Sheriff’s Office, in Kansas, the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office, in Montana, and the Mansfield Division of Police, in Ohio. Tomorrow, it could be another six police departments or more. If the scam hasn’t made it to your city or town, it’s probably on its way.

    If you receive a communication about jury duty, contact your local courthouse or law enforcement agency directly using official contact information to confirm its authenticity. Remember that legitimate government entities will not use aggressive tactics, threats, or demand immediate payments over the phone or email. If you suspect you’ve been targeted by a scam, report it to your local law enforcement agency and relevant authorities.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on May 9, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , police scam,   

    Scam targets families of college students 

    Scam targets families of college students

    By Greg Collier

    One of every parent’s worst fears is getting the late night phone call and hearing a police officer on the other side. Rarely, does that bring good news. Now imagine the call is coming from out of state where your child attends college. Of course, you want to do anything you can to help your child, but what can you do being so far away? That’s when the helpful police officer offers a solution that can be done online. Except, the solution is no solution at all. In fact, it’s an even bigger problem.

    That’s what’s currently happening to the parents of some college students across the country. Scammers are calling the parents of college students while impersonating campus police. Parents will see the phone number appear as their child’s college or university in their caller ID. The parents are then told the caller is with campus police and their child is in some kind of legal trouble. For example, a report from the University of Iowa said the scammers claimed the student had gotten into a fight and was currently being detained.

    As with most scams, the scammers will try to emotionally manipulate a payment out of their victim. The scammers will threaten to take the student to jail if payment isn’t made. Typically, scammers will ask for a payment that can be done over the phone. Another report from Texas A&M University states that scammers there were asking for payment over the mobile payment app Venmo. This is done because once a payment goes through on apps like this, it’s gone forever.

    Meanwhile, this is all going on while the student is completely unaware they’re being used as the bait in a scam.

    If this scam sounds familiar, it should. The scam borrows heavily from both the grandparent scam and the virtual kidnapping scam, with some police impersonation thrown in.

    If you receive a phone call like that about any family member or loved one, ask the callers for their information, such as name and badge number. Even if they give you the names of actual officers, don’t believe them until you verify their information. Hang up the call or use another device to contact the person who was supposedly arrested. You’ll more than likely find that person has not been arrested. Lastly, never send any money. Real law enforcement agencies will never ask for money over the phone.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 29, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , police scam,   

    Protect Yourself from the Jury Duty Scam 

    By Greg Collier

    As we tend to say, the most common scam featured in the news is the jury duty scam. We find news stories about this scam every day. Just a quick Google search found us jury duty scam warnings from police departments or sheriff’s office in Pennsylvania, Iowa, and New Mexico. If it hasn’t been reported in your area yet, it’s only a matter of time before it does. Even with all the warnings going around, the jury duty scam continues to find victims. So, we thought it’s probably time to remind our readers of this scam.

    The jury duty scam is a common scheme in which scammers impersonate officials from a court or law enforcement agency and contact people by phone, email, or text message. They claim that the person has failed to appear for jury duty and that there is a warrant out for their arrest. The scammers then demand payment of a fine or fee to avoid being arrested.

    In some cases, the scammers may ask for personal information such as Social Security numbers or financial information, which they can use for identity theft or to steal money from the victim’s accounts.

    It is important to note that legitimate court officials or law enforcement agencies will never ask for payment or personal information over the phone or email, and they will not threaten to arrest someone for failing to appear for jury duty. If you receive a suspicious call or message, do not give out any personal information or send any money, and report the incident to the appropriate authorities.

    If someone legitimately misses jury duty, they may face penalties or consequences, depending on the jurisdiction and the specific circumstances. In some cases, the court may issue a bench warrant for their arrest, and they may be required to appear before a judge to explain why they failed to appear for jury duty.

    However, please keep in mind, that when police do issue an arrest warrant for someone, they do not call them over the phone to warn them.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on February 22, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Federal Locker, , police scam, , ,   

    Scammers trick victims into sending money to fake ‘federal locker’ 

    Scammers trick victims into sending money to fake 'federal locker'

    By Greg Collier

    There is a government/police impersonation scam that’s been around for a while. Now, scammers have added a new element to the scam to make the scam appear more legitimate.

    In this scam, scammers call their victims posing as a member of law enforcement. Typically, the scammers will say they’re from a federal law enforcement agency like the FBI, the DEA, US Marshals, or Border Patrol. Other than that, the scam usually follows the same script.

    Scammers call their victims and tell them a car rented in their name was found near the Southern Border near Mexico. The car supposedly had drugs and/or guns in it, and now investigators are looking at the victim as a suspect. The victim is threatened with arrest, but the victim can avoid arrest if they just pay a fine then and there. This is when the scammers ask for payment in some kind of untraceable means like gift cards or cryptocurrency.

    In the more current version of the scam, the scammers try to attract more victims with honey rather than vinegar. The scammers will tell the victim that their identity has been stolen, but the ‘agent’ can help the victim protect their money. Victims are instructed to send their remaining money to a ‘federal locker’ where the government will protect the victim’s money.

    Except, federal lockers used to protect a citizen’s money isn’t a real thing. The only federal lockers that exist are the one’s government employees use to store their coats. What the scammers claim is a federal locker is just the scammers’ bank accounts.

    If there were as many abandoned rental cars filled with drugs on the Southern Border as scammers claim, they would probably be stacked ten-high from California to Texas.

    That’s not even mentioning that if law enforcement thought someone was involved in drug trafficking, they wouldn’t be calling the person to warn them. In these matters, law enforcement would be coming to your door.

    If you get one of these calls, hang up. There’s no law that says you can’t hang up on law enforcement. Then call your local police department and tell them what the caller told you. They’ll be able to advise you on it being a scam. However, please keep in mind that no legitimate law enforcement agency will call you and threaten you with arrest or demand money.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on January 2, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , police scam   

    Scam Round Up: Parking ticket scam and more 

    By Greg Collier

    Today, we’re starting off the New Year with a handful of new scams.

    ***

    Now, the police impersonation scam is nothing new. This is when scammers pose as law enforcement and threaten a victim with arrest if they don’t pay a made up fine. However, a new variation of that scam has turned up in an East Texas city.

    Residents of Navasota, Texas, have received emails that try to imitate the city’s Chief of Police. The emails are coming from a Gmail account, which should be a tip off the emails are part of a scam. The strange part of this scam is the emails are asking residents to become collection agents for the city.

    While the news report doesn’t go into great detail about the scam, we imagine that the typical police impersonation scammer is looking for money mules to do their dirty work. It seems the scammers are looking for unwitting participants in their scam to collect the phony fines from victims.

    Always be wary of unsolicited job offers. With any job offer, if an email comes from a Gmail address rather than a business address, there’s a pretty good chance the offer is a scam.

    ***

    In a small Indiana county, residents have been receiving phone calls telling victims they’ve won a prize from the Mega Millions lottery. Victims are being told they’ve won money and a truck from the nationwide lottery. It’s with the truck where the scam begins. Victims are being told they need to purchase a $500 gift card to pay the driver who is bringing the truck. Since the victim may think they’ve won a large sum of money, $500 isn’t much to pay to get a new truck. This is the advance fee scam. It is illegal to make a lottery winner pay for their prize outside of the initial ticket purchase and subsequent taxes. That’s not even taking into account that most lotteries do not give out trucks as prizes.

    According to the Mega Millions website, no representative of Mega Millions would ever call, text, or e-mail anyone about winning a prize.

    If someone is asking you to pay for a prize you supposedly won, the chances are there is no prize.

    ***

    Lastly, if you receive a parking ticket on your car, make sure it’s from the city before making any kind of payment. In Scottsdale, Arizona, residents there have been finding parking tickets on their cars. The ticket states that you can pay the fine by scanning the QR code on the ticket. After scanning the code, victims are taken to a payment website that no doubt puts the money in to the scammers’ pockets.

    According to Scottsdale police, the fake tickets do not contain what parking law has been supposedly broken. Nor do the tickets have any kind of citation number.

    This is becoming an issue around the country as these parking ticket scams have been popping up all over, including a recent arrest in Santa Cruz, California.

    If you receive a parking ticket with a QR code on it, call the city to verify whether the ticket is bogus or not.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on October 24, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , mobile escort, , police scam,   

    New tricks used in arrest warrant scam 

    By Greg Collier

    Previously, we have said that hardly a day goes by where we don’t see a news article from somewhere in the country warning about the arrest warrant scam. This is where scammers pose as law enforcement and call their victims to threaten them with arrest. This is done to try to get the victim to pay the scammers in the guise of paying a fine to remove the warrant. Typically, scammers will even spoof the phone numbers of police departments to make the police number appear on the victim’s phone. Like most scams, the fake police will demand payment through non-traditional and largely untraceable means, like gift cards or cryptocurrency.

    Usually, we post about the arrest warrant scam when a new wrinkle has been added to it, and a sheriff’s office from the Chicago area is warning residents about a few new twists in the scam. The first new trick is the scammers are playing recordings of police radio in the background of their phone calls. This is done to make the phone call seem more legitimate and to get the victim in a panicked state.

    Another trick arrest warrant scammers use is to keep the victim on the phone for as long as possible. For example, they’ll keep the victim on the phone while the victim is buying gift cards at a store in order to make it difficult for someone like a store clerk to interfere with the scam. Now, scammers have added two new aspects to this trick. The first thing is, they’re referring to keeping the victim on the phone as a ‘mobile police escort’. The scammers tell the victim to stay on the phone, so they can assure the victim won’t be arrested while getting the payment. This is not a real police procedure. According to police, this is also a way scammers can keep track of the victim’s location to rob them.

    Please keep in mind that no law enforcement agency will ever call you and threaten you with arrest if you don’t make a payment. If you ever receive one of these calls, hang up immediately. Then call your local police department at their non-emergency number to let them know this scam is going on in your area.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on September 16, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , MoneyPak, , police scam, ,   

    Jury duty scammers continue to harass victims 

    Jury duty scammers continue to harass victims

    By Greg Collier

    As we’ve said previously, not a day goes by where we don’t see a news headline warning readers about jury duty scams. This is where scammers try to take advantage of a victim’s inexperience in dealing with the court system. Most of us have heard that you can be potentially arrested if you miss reporting for jury duty after receiving a summons. However, not everyone knows the court’s process if someone is to be fined or arrested, and the scammers are counting on that.

    Recently, scammers tried to take advantage of a young woman from North Carolina. They had called her, posing as the local sheriff’s office. They told her that not only did she miss jury duty, but now had to pay a $950 fine or be arrested. The scammers even tried to make every part of their scam seem official. They informed her that she needed to pay the supposed fine in MoneyPak vouchers. MoneyPaks are not vouchers, but a brand of prepaid debit card like Green Dot. Then the scammers tried to have the woman meet them in front of the county courthouse to make the payment.

    While this was a harrowing experience for the young woman, she thankfully had someone on her side helping her. The conversation the woman had with the scammer was on speaker, and the woman’s mother had a feeling this was a scam. Her mother called the local sheriff’s office, who assured her this was a scam.

    Now, it is true you can be fined or arrested for missing jury duty, however, the scam is not even close to how the courts really work. If someone were to somehow miss jury duty, they would receive an additional summons in the mail. At this point, they can contact the court to try to settle the matter. Neither the courts nor the police will ever call someone to harass them into making a payment. Even if someone did need to pay a fine to the courts, it wouldn’t be through nontraditional means like prepaid debit cards, gift cards, or cryptocurrency. These forms of payment are tools for scammers to avoid having the payment traced by the actual police.

    If you are ever unsure about whether a call from police is official or not, you have the right to hang up and verify the call with law enforcement.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on July 27, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , police scam, ,   

    New elaborate addition to the jury duty scam 

    By Greg Collier

    There’s hardly a day that goes by where we don’t see some police department warning local residents about the jury duty scam. This scam is simple in its design, as it uses a basic human fear to take money from its victims. Typically, scammers will pose as local law enforcement, even going as far as to spoof the police department’s phone number. The scammers will call a potential victim and identify themselves as a police officer. The victim will be told that they missed jury duty and now have to pay a fine to prevent being arrested. Most times, this is enough to get the victim to pay. The scammers will almost always demand payment in some form of untraceable means, like gift cards or a prepaid debit card.

    Now, it seems, jury duty scammers are stepping up their game as authorities in North Carolina are warning residents of a new elaborate twist to the typical jury duty scam. Law enforcement in the Tarheel State have received complaints about jury duty scammers who have set up business-level voicemail systems that mimic those of police departments.

    Instead of just trying to find a victim on a live call, some scammers are now leaving voicemails telling the victims they’ve missed jury duty. The scammers then leave a local return phone number for the victim to call. If the victim does return the call, they’ll be placed into a phone tree that claims to be from a police department. When scammers pick up the call, they’ll identify themselves with the names of real police officers from the department they’re posing as.

    Not only does a scheme like this add the appearance of legitimacy to the scam, it also shows the lengths scammers will go to.

    No legitimate law enforcement agency will ever call you on the phone and threaten you with arrest if you don’t make an immediate payment. Also, no court system ever accepts payment in gift cards, money transfers, cryptocurrency, or any other type of untraceable and nontraditional payment.

    If you receive one of these calls, hang up and call the police department at their non-emergency phone number. Do not use any phone number that may be left by the caller.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on July 22, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , police scam, , , , t-shirt scam,   

    Scam Round Up: New Social Security scam and more 

    Scam Round Up: New Social Security scam and more

    By Greg Collier

    This week in the Scam Round Up, we’re bringing you a story with a happy ending, for once, and a whole bunch of scams.

    ***

    Our happy ending story is one that starts out with a Philadelphia-area man who fell for the grandparent scam. He was led to believe his son was in jail on a DUI and needed $25,000 for bail. The scammers enlisted the service of a Lyft driver who was supposed to take the $25,000 to the scammers. The driver felt like something was up and tried to confirm the identity of the so-called attorney who was supposed to get the money. When the attorney wouldn’t provide identification to the Lyft driver, the driver took the money to police, who were able to return the money to the victim.

    Please keep in mind, if someone says they’re sending a rideshare or courier to your home to pick up money for some kind of emergency, the odds are pretty good they’re trying to scam you. If a relative or loved one claims to be in jail, attempt to contact them first before sending any money. More than likely, you’ll find out they’re ok.

    ***

    Just because Amazon’s Prime Day is over, that doesn’t mean Amazon scams will stop. A sheriff’s office just outside of Richmond, Virginia, is warning residents about an Amazon phone scam taking place there. In this scam, the victims receive a call from someone claiming to be with Amazon. The caller will say there are suspicious charges on the victim’s account. They’ll then say they’re connecting you with police. Except, everyone on the call is a scammer trying to get your financial information.

    Amazon rarely calls their customers, even if there are fraudulent charges. If you receive a phone call like this, hang up, then check your Amazon account to make sure there are no fraudulent charges on the account.

    ***

    An old used car scam is making a reappearance, or maybe it never went away. The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers about used cars for sale that the seller claims is being stored out of state. The scammers will claim that you need to pay a transport company with either gift cards or a money transfer. Often, the scammers will claim that eBay is shipping the vehicle. While eBay does have a used car marketplace, they do not do any shipping of vehicles. And as usual, gift cards should only be used as gifts, and money transfers should never be sent to people you don’t know personally.

    ***

    One scam that has been popping up all over the country is the police T-shirt scam. From coast to coast, residents have been receiving text messages that claim to be selling T-shirts for their local police department. The text message contains a link that is supposed to be a shop for the T-shirts, but is actually a fake website designed to take your financial information. If you receive one of these texts, block the number and delete the text.

    ***

    Lastly, there seems to be a new Social Security scam going around the country. According to reports, there’s an ad circulating on social media that claims Social Security will provide a spending card for adults over the age of 51. This is not true, as Social Security offers no such service. More than likely, if someone tries to apply for one of these fictitious cards, the scammers will either ask for financial information, or they’ll ask for a payment first before the card can be issued.

    If you see an ad that promises you amazing Social Security or Medicare benefits, be very skeptical of them. Too often, these services are either misleading or downright fraudulent.

    If you have any questions about these advertised services, it is recommended you contact the Social Security Administration first at 1 (800) 772-1213.

     

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